Tesla Cybertruck to be Built in Texas
The Tesla Cybertruck is slated to enter production next year with customer deliveries supposedly to begin in late 2021. The problem? The Gigafactory it will come out of is not even built yet.
In fact, up until last night, we didn’t know exactly where this new plant would be built. But in a conference call to discuss its latest results (including a fourth consecutive quarterly profit), Tesla announced that Texas would be home to the Cybertruck, more specifically a 2,000-acre site near the city of Austin.
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Neighbouring Oklahoma was also a finalist for the Gigafactory, but as they say, everything is bigger in Texas. The cost of the project is estimated at nearly $1.5 billion in Canadian dollars.
“It’s going to be an ecological paradise ... open to the public,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in statements reported by Reuters.
In addition to the controversial electric pickup, the automaker from California will also manufacture its Semi truck in Austin. Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers for Eastern North America will be assembled there, too.
Other Models are Coming
During the same conference call, Musk answered a question about future Tesla vehicles. He spoke about a compact electric car and a higher-capacity vehicle.
“I don’t think we can comment on our detailed road map beyond what’s announced because we want to reserve that for product launches. But it would be reasonable to assume that we would make a compact vehicle of some kind and probably a higher capacity vehicle of some kind. These are likely things at some point.”
In all likelihood, Musk was referring to the small hatchback seen on design sketches in recent months. The car would be built in China for the global market.
The other vehicle is probably an electric van, which has been part of Musk’s “Master Plan” for many years. Rumour has it there will be both a 12-passenger touring model and a cargo variant for deliveries and other commercial applications—similar to the electric vans Rivian will supply to Amazon.
These new vehicles will come after the Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster, though, so not before 2022 or 2023.